Colombia, Venezuela Restore Full Diplomatic Relations

Facts

• On Sun., Colombia's new ambassador to Venezuela, former Sen. Armando Benedetti, arrived in Caracas, while Venezuela's new ambassador to Colombia, former Foreign Minister Félix Plasencia, reportedly arrived in Bogotá.
• This marks the full restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries after a three-year break caused by political tensions between socialist Venezuela and Colombia's successive conservative presidents.
• After taking office in early Aug., Colombia's first leftist president, Gustavo Petro, said he would drop Bogotá's recognition of Juan Guaidó as interim leader and recognize Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate head of state. Guaidó appointed himself interim leader after declaring Maduro's 2018 re-election illegitimate. He is recognized by several nations, including the US.
• Benedetti and Plasencia were appointed on Aug. 11 as the first step to normalizing relations. Meanwhile, Guaidó's representative Eduardo Battistini has declared he will remain in Colombia.
• Bogotá and Caracas have also announced intentions to restore military and trade relations and cooperate to tackle rebel groups along their border, which will also be fully reopened after being intermittently closed to vehicles since 2015.
• 6M people are believed to have fled Venezuela since 2013 due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis sparked by the nation's political turmoil, of which roughly 2.5M have reportedly gone to Colombia.

Sources: DW, Le Monde, Al Jazeera, and Colombia Reports.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by El País. Guaidó's bid to oust Venezuela's Maduro has clearly failed, and Bogotá should restore its relations with Caracas for both Colombia's and Venezuela's benefit. The normalization will reduce trade costs, improve the lives of the border population, and possibly make Maduro more willing to listen to Petro.
• Narrative B, as provided by WLRN. Establishing dialogue with Maduro could certainly help restore democracy in Venezuela. But for this to happen, Petro must be adamant in his condemnation of the human rights abuses going on and advocate fully for freedom in Venezuela. Colombia's problems cannot be solved until the root causes of the crisis in Venezuela are addressed.
• Narrative C, as provided by Reuters. Maduro's 2018 re-election was a sham that failed to comply with even the minimum international standards for credibility. The purpose of the rigged vote was merely to consolidate a dictatorship marred with human rights abuses, corruption, and economic mismanagement. No country that pretends to care about democracy and human rights should even consider recognizing his illegitimate government.